SEM involves paying for placement in search engines. Bids are placed based on the amount of money a business is willing to pay for click through links. SEM incorporates search ads sold on a Pay Per Click (PPC) or Cost Per Click (CPC) basis. While SEM and SEO are a means for increasing traffic to a website some consider SEM to be an “umbrella” term that not only consists of using PPC and CPC, but also SEO.

SEO uses key words within blog posts and web pages to increase the number of visitors received from search engines. In The Beginners Guide to SEO it states that “SEO is simply a matter of making sure your site is structured in a way that search engines understand.